Wednesday, November 4, 2015 — DT 27813

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Daily Telegraph DT 27813
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, May 28, 2015
Setter RayT (Ray Terrell)
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 27813]
Big Dave's Crossword Blog Review Written By pommers
BD Rating
Difficulty - ★★★	Enjoyment - ★★★★
Falcon's Experience ┌────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┐ ███████████████████████████████████ └────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┘ Legend: █ - solved without assistance █ - incorrect prior to use of puzzle solving tools █ - solved with assistance from puzzle solving tools █ - solved with aid of checking letters provided by puzzle solving tools █ - solved but without fully parsing the clue █ - unsolved or incorrect prior to visiting Big Dave's Crossword Blog █ - solved with aid of checking letters provided by solutions from Big Dave's Crossword Blog █ - reviewed by Falcon for Big Dave's Crossword Blog █ - yet to be solved

Introduction

Today, it was my lack of knowledge of circus props and European Lepidoptera that defeated me.

I invite you to leave a comment to let us know how you fared with the puzzle.

Notes on Today's Puzzle

This commentary is intended to serve as a supplement to the review of this puzzle found at Big Dave's Crossword Blog, to which a link is provided in the table above.

Primary indications (definitions) are marked with a solid underline in the clue; subsidiary indications (be they wordplay or other) are marked with a dashed underline in all-in-one (&lit.) clues, semi-all-in-one (semi-&lit.) clues and cryptic definitions. Explicit link words and phrases are enclosed in forward slashes (/link/) and implicit links are shown as double forward slashes (//). Definitions presented in blue text are for terms that appear frequently.

Across

1a   Tories lure out // undecided (10)

6a   Instrument /with/ hot amp ends covering Queen (4)

"Queen" = R (show explanation )

Regina^[5] (abbreviation R^[5]) [Latin for queen] denotes the reigning queen, used following a name (e.g. Elizabetha Regina, Queen Elizabeth) or in the titles of lawsuits (e.g. Regina v. Jones, the Crown versus Jones — often shortened to R. v. Jones).

Thus Queen Elizabeth signs her name as 'Elizabeth R' as seen here on Canada's paint-stained constitution.

hide explanation

Behind the Picture
For the full "story" behind the illustration in pommers' review on Big Dave's Crossword Blog, see A Girl, A Harp & A Photo Contest.

9a   Run away? /It's/ warranted (5)

Leg it^[5] is an informal British term meaning to:

1. travel by foot or walk ⇒ I am part of a team legging it around London; or
2. run away ⇒ he legged it after someone shouted at him.

One meaning of warrant^[1] is to authorize. From this we have the derived adjectival forms warrantable^[1], meaning that may be permitted (or authorized), and warranted^[1], meaning permitted (or authorized) — in other words, legit.

10a   Alarmed // if retired, pottering about (9)

Potter^[3,4,11], a chiefly British counterpart to the North American term putter, means to move with little energy or direction ⇒ to potter about town.

12a   Positive sign /of/ excitement going after gold (7)

"gold" = AU (show explanation )

The symbol for the chemical element gold is Au^[5] (from Latin aurum).

hide explanation

Auspice^[1] is an archaic term meaning a divine or prophetic token.

13a   Group // virtuoso putting out single (5)

In biology, genus^[5] denotes a principal taxonomic category that ranks above species and below family, and is denoted by a capitalized Latin name.  In philosophical and general use, the term means a class of things which have common characteristics and which can be divided into subordinate kinds.

15a   Work's rejected -- the compiler's // touchy (7)

"compiler's" = IVE (show explanation )

It is a common cryptic crossword convention for the creator of the puzzle to use terms such as (the) compiler, (the) setter, (this) author, (this) writer, or this person to refer to himself or herself. To solve such a clue, one must generally substitute a first person pronoun (I or me) for whichever of these terms has been used in the clue.

Today, the setter has made the scenario slightly more complicated by combining "compiler" with the verb "to have" producing "compiler's" (a contraction of "compiler has") which must be replaced by "I've" (a contraction of "I have").

hide explanation

17a   Judas, // corrupt one with cunning turned back (7)

Judas^[5] may denote:

1. an Apostle; full name Judas Iscariot. He betrayed Christ to the Jewish authorities in return for thirty pieces of silver; the Gospels leave his motives uncertain. Overcome with remorse, he later committed suicide.
2. (as noun usually a Judas) a person who betrays a friend or comrade ⇒ she was called a Judas and a scab.

19a   Promised // to fix shelf in vacant pad (7)

21a   Bomb almost finished advanced // country (7)

"advanced: = A (show explanation )

In the UK (with the exception of Scotland), A level^[5] (advanced level^[5]) is a qualification in a specific subject typically taken by school students aged 16-18, at a level above GCSE^[5] (General Certificate of Secondary Education).

hide explanation

Grenada^[5] is a country in the Caribbean, consisting of the island of Grenada (the southernmost of the Windward Islands) and the southern Grenadine Islands; population 90,700 (est. 2009); languages, English (official), English Creole; capital, St George’s.

Delving Deeper
The island of Grenada was sighted in 1498 by Columbus. Colonized by the French, it was ceded to Britain in 1763, recaptured by the French, and restored to Britain in 1783. It became an independent Commonwealth state in 1974. Seizure of power by a left-wing military group in 1983 prompted an invasion by the US and some Caribbean countries; they withdrew in 1985.

22a   Separate after carbon // copy (5)

"carbon" = C (show explanation )

The symbol for the chemical element carbon is C^[5].

hide explanation

24a   Insists // everybody for example's taking English (7)

27a   Butterfly /from/ Belgium displayed with colour round borders (9)

The International Vehicle Registration (IVR) code for Belgium is B^[5].

A brimstone^[5] is a bright yellow butterfly or moth:

1. (also brimstone butterfly) a European butterfly of the white family, the male of which is yellow and the female greenish-white (Gonepteryx rhamni);
2. (also brimstone moth) a small yellow European moth (Opisthograptis luteolata).

28a   Start to spin top, /showing/ expertise (5)

Top^[5] is an informal British term meaning to kill ⇒ I wasn’t sorry when he topped himself.

29a   First female's right, // always (4)

In the Bible, Eve^[5] is the first woman, companion of Adam and mother of Cain and Abel [not to mention Seth and their other sons and daughters].^{[Gen 5:4]}

30a   Regular // felons one dispatched having time inside (10)

What did he say?
In his review, pommers refers to Some felons or lags .... Lag[5] is an informal British term for a person who has been frequently convicted and sent to prison ⇒ both old lags were sentenced to ten years' imprisonment.

Down

1d   Oddly indulged // unemployed (4)

2d   Bother // doctor initially massaging a part (9)

3d   Installs // displays for the audience (5)

4d   Cattle confused about front of iron // grid (7)

5d   Nearly ripped, riven /by/ deluge (7)

As a link word, by^[5] is likely to be interpreted as indicating a term to which an interpretation is to be assigned ⇒ what is meant by ‘fair’?.

7d   Repugnant // article contains fabrication (5)

8d   On foot, // end traipse shattered (10)

11d   Thankless person // kept by tax-paying ratepayers (7)

14d   Wretched // paid 'celebs' going wild (10)

16d   Right to enter // artist salon's opening (7)

Like pommers', I thought initially that the definition was "opening". When I realized that word was needed in the wordplay, I then tried — to no avail — to reconstitute the clue as an all-in-one.

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres ^[5] (1780–1867) was a French painter. A pupil of Jacques-Louis David, he vigorously upheld neoclassicism in opposition to Delacroix’s romanticism. Notable works: Ambassadors of Agamemnon (1801) and The Bather (1808).

Ingress^[10] is the right or permission to enter.

18d   Changing partners, I // come out (9)

20d   Game // over then pitch second over (7)

"over" = O (show explanation )

On cricket scorecards, the abbreviation O^[5] denotes over(s), an over^[5] being a division of play consisting of a sequence of six balls bowled by a bowler from one end of the pitch, after which another bowler takes over from the other end.

hide explanation

A second^[5] is an assistant, in particular an attendant assisting a combatant in a duel or boxing match.

Large and miniature Western rubber diabolos.

Wooden sticks are shown in the background.

The diabolo^[7] is a juggling prop consisting of an axle and two cups or discs. This object is spun using a string attached to two hand sticks. A huge variety of tricks are possible with the diabolo, including tosses, and various types of interaction with the sticks, string, and various parts of the user's body. Multiple diabolos can be spun on a single string.

21d   Ships /making/ passage to penetrate empty Ganges (7)

Scratching the Surface
The Ganges[5] is a river of northern India and Bangladesh, which rises in the Himalayas and flows some 2,700 km (1,678 miles) south-east to the Bay of Bengal, where it forms the world’s largest delta. The river is regarded by Hindus as sacred.

23d   Declare // nothing before deal (5)

"deal" = PINE (show explanation )

In Britain, deal^[5] means:

1. fir or pine wood as a building material; or
2. a plank made of fir or pine wood [what we in North America would commonly refer to as lumber]. 

 Apparently, this meaning of deal^[3,11] also exists (or once existed) in North America, but I would think that it is very rarely used now — especially by the general public.

In Britain, lumber^[5] has a totally different meaning than it does in North America, being articles of furniture or other household items that are no longer useful and inconveniently take up storage space. 

hide explanation

25d   Crack's seen around top of short // pants (5)

26d   Large in stomach /from/ excess (4)

Key to Reference Sources: 

^[1]   - The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition
^[2]   - Search Chambers - (Chambers 21st Century Dictionary)
^[3]   - TheFreeDictionary.com (American Heritage Dictionary)
^[4]   - TheFreeDictionary.com (Collins English Dictionary)
^[5]   - Oxford Dictionaries (Oxford Dictionary of English)
^[6]   - Oxford Dictionaries (Oxford American Dictionary)
^[7]   - Wikipedia
^[8]   - Reverso Online Dictionary (Collins French-English Dictionary)
^[9]   - Infoplease (Random House Unabridged Dictionary)
^[10] - CollinsDictionary.com (Collins English Dictionary)
^[11] - TheFreeDictionary.com (Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary)

Signing off for today — Falcon